Control solutions positioned at the operator's hand enabling him/her to operate the device to be controlled are known in the art.
For instance, the international application WO 2014164168, which discloses a control system for a materials handling vehicle, discloses a hand-held wireless remote control device that is carried by an operator who interacts with the materials handling vehicle and includes a receiving area, a removably attachable communication device and a motion control. The motion control is communicatively connected with the wireless transmitter, with the actuation of the motion control resulting with the wireless transmitter transmitting a motion request as a first-type signal requesting the materials handling vehicle to move on a floor surface in a first direction.
U.S. Patent Application 2014/0358263 discloses a control system for selectively operating a sound system, for instance, for playing audio files in an order defined by a dialogue tree. The control system includes a trigger mechanism provided in the costume operable by an operator wearing the costume to generate and transmit at least one trigger signal to navigate through a dialogue tree. A controller receives the trigger signal and transmits a control signal, causing the sound system to play back pre-recorded dialogue.
International application WO 2012/054443 describes an electronic control glove enabling the improved control over wireless electronic devices from the user's fingertips. The glove is made of conductive materials along the fingers and the thumb, with a contact of the conductive material of a finger with the conductive material of the thumb creating a closed circuit that is transmitted to a control device on the glove that can then emit wireless messages to remote electronic devices such as cell phones, audio players, garage door openers, military hardware and software in work environments, etc.
These solutions are not completely satisfactory for use in industrial environments. In such environments, security is a major constraint. It is essential to avoid inappropriate control resulting, for example, from an involuntary movement of the hand equipped with a remote control glove, or improper selection of a button for equipment provided with, as described in the international application WO 2014/164168, a plurality of buttons, each one corresponding to a specific action.
The use of such a glove requires learning to enable an almost reflex action, without risk of confusion between the different keys available. The involuntary or inappropriate pressing of a key irreversibly triggers an action by the controlled equipment that may be, at best, inappropriate, but sometimes hazardous.
In addition, remote control equipment is subjected to multiple stresses (shocks, sweat, dust, humidity, etc.).
The gloves disclosed in the prior art do not make it possible to fully solve these problems because they require the availability of a large number of sizes so that each operator can have a remote glove adapted to his/her morphology. In addition, the gloves are subjected to high stresses that are less compatible with the integration of an electronic component.